Category: Tubular bells & Chimes

I think these are Viscount chimes, in for repair. The damper pedal doesn’t work, and there are missing parts; also one of the bells is missing a cap, and the whole frame needs a bit of TLC.

The first thing I ask when I receive a broken instrument is, why did it break? In this case, it looks likely that the missing part snapped, but why? Probably because the design wasn’t that good to begin with, and that the force needed to damp the bells was too great for the aluminium that the part would have been made from. Therefore, I need to re-design the part, and look at the damper bars to improve their effectiveness, and subsequently reduce the force needed at the foot pedal.

This is the new part I am making

New component made, now it moves in two directions; forward and back, left to right to ensure that the tension force is all inline and there is no twisting. Part made from steel for strength.

Measurements of the bell cap taken off a complete bell and a copy made:

The bell is keyed to both provide a clean surface and give the solder a surface to stick to: